Balance-door for stoves and grates



2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(NoModeL) G. WELLHOUSE. BALANCE DOORFOR STOVES AND GRATES.

Pztented 11113128, 1885.

WI T/VESSES rnqys gnphcr. Wuhinginn. Dv c.

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

. G. WELLHOUSE.

BALANCE DOOR FOR STOVES AND GRATES. v No. 323,379. atented July 28,1885.

WITNESSES IIVVE/VTOR lJNrrEn stares PATENT @rricn.

GEORGE \VELLHOUSE, OF AKRON, OHIO.

BALANCE-DOOR FOR. STOVES AND GRATES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 323,379, dated July 28,1885.

Application filed November 3, 1884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be' it known that I, Gnonen WnLLHoUsn, of Akron, in the county of Summitand State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBalanceDoors for Stoves and Grates; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in balance-doors for open stovesand grate-fronts, the object being to provide a front plate offsetrearwardly to accommodate the balanceweights above the doorway and togive greater strength and durability to the front plate.

A further object is-to arrange the parts so that the door is supporteddirectly from the arms of the balance-weights, and without conneetingrods or otherintermediate mechanism.

A further object is to provide inclined, and preferably curved, ways toengage the lugs that support the door, and so arranged that the lugsduring the first part of the movement, either in opening or closing thedoor, will act on a downgrade and cause the door to start easily, andwill act on an upgrade toward the end of the stroke, and more or lesscheck the momentum and retard the movement of the door.

A further object is to provide a single guiding-pin operating in avertical slot to guide the door, to the end that the warping of parts isnot likely to interfere with the free working of the door.

A further object is to support the guidingplate from the lugs on whichthe balanceweights are pivoted, and so arranged that the guideplateserves as an abutment to hold the weights in position.

A further object is to simplify the construction generally, to the endthat the initial cost is lessened thereby.

it-h these objects in view my invention consists in certain featuresofconstruction, and in combination of parts hereinafter described,- andpointed out in the claims.

This invention is designed as an improvement on a device on which I havealready obtained Letters Patent of the United States No. 303,082, datedAugust 5, 1884.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view in elevation of astove embodying my invention, showing the door open. Fig. 2 is a frontview in elevation of the stove, with the ornamental plates removed, andshowing the door closed. Fig. 3 is a front view in elevation, with thedoor and ornamental plate removed, showing the guide-plate andbalanceweights, the latter being in the posit-ion required to supportthedoor wide open. Fig. 4: is a view in perspective of the front plate, socalled, showing the offsets in the plate and the depressions or recesseswhere the weights are located. Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of thedoor. Fig. 6 is a rear view in elevation of the balance-weights, showingthem in their relative position to each other, but detached from thestove. Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section of the front plate on theline of 00 a), Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a view in elevation of the guide-plate,and Fig. 9 is an enlarged view in perspective of a set of lugs, a and a,and the adjacent part of the front plate.

A represents the so-called front plate of the stove, although it isusually more or less covered by ornamental worksuch, for instance, asthe plates 13 and b. Above the door-opening this plate is offsetrearward, forming recesses or depressions A, in which the weights G andG operate. Near the center of the plate is a flatvertical part, Asomewhat in advance of the adjacent depressions, and from which projectforward two bosses, a, that are circular in cross-section, and form thebearing on which the weights are respectively pivoted. The front ends ofthese bosses are reduced in size at a, and form lugs that support theguideplate D. These oifsets greatly strengthen the plate A and render itless liable to crack and warp, and at the same time the depressions orpockets thus formed furnish snug quarters for the weights, that byreason of them are located behind the ornamental plate B, in what wouldotherwise be waste room over the doorway. The weights have circularopenings and lit over and are pivoted on the respective lugs a, and havesegmental teeth 0, that interlock and cause the weights and attachmentsto move in unison, and have arms 0 and c, that extend in oppositedirections. The former passes behind the latter, but is curved forwardnear the end, so that the two lugs 0 that extend forward from the endsof the re- (1 in osition on the lu s to and these latter may be cut awaywhere the pins pass through to lessen the amount of drilling requiredfor the pin-hole. (See Fig. 7.)

E is a vertically-moving door, that is usually of some ornamentalpattern, and provided with openings and means for securing isinglassover the same.- The door has a neck, that is curved rearward, andextends through the slot 1) and forms a guide-pin,

and has near the end lugs E that extend laterally behind the plate D andhold the part E from withdrawing from the slot. In placing the door inposition, or in removing it by turning the door at an angle with theplate 1), the lugs E may be passed through the slot 1). The door hasears 6, extending outward and upward, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5,that have slots 6, in which operate the pins or lugs c of the arms ofthe balanceweights. These slots 6 are inclined, as shown, and are alsocurved, so that the incline of the slot is steeper as it approaches theinner and lower end. The lugs 0 in supporting the door, of course engagethe upper walls, respectively, of the slots 0, that form ways 0 alongwhich these lugs slide as the door is moved vertically.

The arrangement of parts is such that when the door is mid way of itsvertical movement the arms of the weights are distended in a horizontalposition, with the four lugs to and c in line, and in this position thelugs 0 are at the outer end of the respective slots 0. As the ends ofthese arms move in circular lines, with their respective axes at therespective lugs to, the lugs 0 must approach each other as they sweepupward or downward from the horizontal line just mentioned. In operatingthe doors, therefore, at either terminus-that is, when the door isclosed or is wide openthe lugs 0 will be at their inner ends,respectively, of the slots 0. As the door is moved from either terminus,the lugs slide out on the ways (or in the slots) until the door ismidway of its throw, and during the remainder of the stroke the lugstravel back over the ways to the inner end or place of beginning. Themovement of the lugs c on the ways is the same whether the door is movedupward or downward, and in either case during the first part of thestroke the lugs move outward, and with the ways inclined as shown, andthe door resting on the lugs, this outward movement.

is, in effect, on a downgrade, and when the door has passed its centerof motion the said lugs return inward and encounter in effect anupgrade. By means, then, of these inclined ways, the door starts andmoves easily during the first half of its throw and is retarded duringthe last half.

A hot stovedoor is likely to be manipulated in haste, and with someviolence it the resistance is considerable, and a door that moves hardis much more liable to be broken than one that moves easily, the"breakage usually occurring at the end of the throw. My improvedbalancedoor starts so easily (requiring only a touch) that usually notmuch speed ormomentum is acquired, and the resistance on the inner endof the ways or inclines near the end of the stroke is such that thetermini are approached gently, and frequently the door has to be helpedalong a trifle to fullyopen or close it. The ways 6 are preferablycurved, as shown, so that while near the inner end the incline is aboutas steep as will admit of the door remaining at the termini. Toward theouter end the ways more nearly approach a horizontal line. Of course, ifthe ways were too steep, the lugs 0 would always remain at the outer endof the slots and the door would always stand half-way open.

The shape of the lower walls of the slots is of no consequence, so thatthere is room for the lugs c to operate. The lugs c are provided withwashers m and pins n, by means of which the door is held in position onthe said lugs 0 The parts are few in number and require little or nofitting, and the device can therefore be made at a comparatively smallinitial cost.

\Vhat I claim is l. The combination, with theplate A,having depressionsA, and part A having lugs to a, of the weights pivoted upon said lugsand a door suspended from said weights.

2. The combination, with a supporting-plate and counterbalance-weightspivotally secured to the rear face thereof and provided with arms, thelatter having laterally-projecting lugs, of a vertically-movabledoor-having oblong closed slots therein, in which the lugs on the armsof the counterbalance-weights rest.

3. The combination, with a supportingplate and pivoted counterbalanceweights having intermeshing teeth and projecting arms, the latterprovided with laterally-projectin g lugs, of a vertically-movable doorhaving oblong slots, in which the lugs on the.

arms of the counterbalance-weights rest.

4:. The combination, with asupportingplate and thecounterbalance-weights pivoted to said plate and provided with armshaving laterally-projecting lugs, of a vertically-movable door havinginclined ways, in which said lugs rest.

5. The combination, with a supporting-plate and counterbalance-weightspivoted thereto,

and provided wit-h arms crossing each other -IOO in opposite directions,the said arms having laterally-projecting logs, of theverticallylnovehle door having inclined ways, in which said lugs rest.

6. Thecombination, with a supporting-plate having lugs thecounterbalance-Weights pivotally secured on said lugs, a guide securedon said lugs to the rear of the weights, and a vertically-movable door,ofa guide-pin secured to the door and moving within the guide.

7. The combination, with asupporting-plate and counterbalance-weightspivoted thereto, of a vertically-movable door connected to said weights,a stationary guide located in front of the door in a vertical linepassin g through the

